Fallout from Calderon scandal may be light for Democrats not named Calderon

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Before they became ensnared in a federal sting operation targeting Sacramento corruption, state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, and his brother, former Assemblyman Tom Calderon, had been major fundraisers for allied Democratic politicians, according to a survey of campaign finance data.

Campaign committees and other organizations shown in records as being tied to either Calderon brother contributed more than $727,000 to favored politicians from 2000 to the present.

Beneficiaries, with the notable exception of the men’s nephew, state Assembyman Ian Calderon, D-Industry, are not likely to face much in the way of voter backlash or be accused of guilt by association, said Allen Hoffenblum, a former campaign consultant.

“When he (Ron Calderon) was contributing the money, he was a state senator, and when you’re a candidate, you get money however you legally can,” said Hoffenblum, publisher of the California Target Book, an almanac of the state’s politics.

If “all of a sudden, you find out they’re in trouble, you’re not responsible for that.”

Ron Calderon was indicted last week by federal authorities on 24 charges, including corruption, money laundering and bribery. He entered a not guilty plea in federal court on Monday. If convicted on all charges, he would face up to 396 years in federal prison.

Tom Calderon was also charged last week with seven counts of money laundering. He entered a not guilty plea to the charges on Friday. If convicted, he could serve up to 160 years.

Ian Calderon could face extra scrutiny as the assemblyman needed his relatives to win office and his family connections could draw unwanted attention, Hoffenblum said.

Aside from Ian Calderon, Ron and Tom Calderon gave money to several major politicians in the area since 2000. Hoffenblum described the pair as being within the moderate, pro-business contingent of Southern California’s Latino politicos.

In prior cycles, the brothers have made donations to such politicos as Gov. Jerry Brown, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The pair have also given heavily to Democratic Party organizations.

The Calderons’ connections to so many members of the Democratic Party might not matter much in November, Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney said.

“By Election Day, it could be a dim memory for a lot of voters,” Pitney said.

In the indictment released last week, Ron Calderon is accused of several crimes related to his alleged acceptance of bribes from FBI agents who posed as filmmakers seeking a favorable change to California’s film tax credit law,

In a separate matter, Calderon allegedly took bribes from the owner of a Long Beach hospital who sought to maintain a loophole in state law that allowed him to fraudulently inflate the costs of spinal surgeries and thus generate some $500 million worth of fraudulent claims. Authorities said it may be the worst case of worker’s compensation fraud in state history. The hospital’s owner, Michael Drobot, 69, of Corona del Mar, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and paying illegal kickbacks. He faces 10 years in prison.

Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, a Long Beach mayoral candidate, accepted $16,700 in campaign contributions between 2008 and 2011 from Drobot, the man whom prosecutors allege paid bribes to Calderon to help keep alive laws that allowed the disgraced health care executive to continue to bilk the worker’s compensation system.

But Lowenthal began donating the money out of her state campaign accounts last year, when Al Jazeera broke news about the Calderon investigation.

Late Friday afternoon, Mike Shimpock, Lowenthal’s campaign spokesman, said that $3,900 in contributions from Calderon had been donated to Bet Tzedek and $7,800 to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. The remaining $5,000 was missed and the campaign was in the process of cutting a check for the amount to St. Mary Medical Center’s Comprehensive AIDS Resource, or C.A.R.E. Program, Shimpock said.

As Shimpock explained it, donating the funds to charity means the money will not be returned to a man who pleaded guilty to defrauding taxpayers.